But McClenny and others were the victims of a heartwarming tale predicated on a lie, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina.

She’sone of 14,000 donors GoFundMe now has to refund after the couple and Bobbitt were charged with second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina.

“The story now in hindsight sounds a little unbelievable,” McClenny said. “I think I should have thought harder before I decided to give people some of my money.”

How did it all fall apart?

All it took was a picture and a good story.

McClure and D’Amico were unable to pay their bills and had mounting debt, their texts show.

They went back a month later to get a picture with Bobbitt, who already had what Coffina called a story “remarkably similar” to the one the three would peddle on his Facebook page.

“Okay so wait the gas part is completely made up, but the guy isn’t. I had to make something up to make people feel bad,” McClure told a friend in one of the more than 67,000 text messages investigators reviewed.

And, it seems, people did feel bad. The campaign brought in more than $400,000 in donations. After fees, the proceeds of the campaign netted about $367,000, all deposited into McClure’s accounts, Coffina said.